Coupling for fence-wires



(No Model.)

W. M. GLOW.

COUPLING FOR FENCE WIRE-S. No. 298,827. Patented May 20, 1884.

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IVILLIAM M. OLOIV, OF EAST WVHEATLAND, ILLINOIS.

COUPLING FOR FENCE WlRES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 298,827, dated May ZO, 1884.

Application filed October 16, 1883. (No model.)

To, all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. 01.0w, a

' citizen of the United States of America, re-

siding at East \Nheatland, in the county of IVill and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Couplings to Make Passage-Nays in Wire Fences, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

The figure is a perspective view.

This invention relates to a device for forming passage-ways through a wire fence by means of couplings in the strand-wires, form ed and operating as set forth in the following specification. Sometimes it is desirable to make a passageway through a wire fence at some place out in the field where it is not desirable to have permanent gateways, and this invention subserves that purpose.

Referring to the drawing, D and Drepresent two fence-posts of an ordinary fence, between which it is desired to make a passageway. 10 are the fence-wires, which, in the first instance, were continuous and attached to the sides of the posts in the ordinary manner. Between the said posts the two upper wires are represented as having been cut off at each post. Staples, screw-eyes, or ringstraps have been attached to the posts in a line with said cut-off wires, and the cut-out section has again been inserted between the posts in the manner following: Looking at the top wire, the end at the left is placed in the shoe a, between the two lugs or ears 2, and held therein by means of the nail or pin 1?, which is driven through holes in the sides of said ears, and compresses the wire 10 tight enough between said nail and the bottom of the shoe to hold it, notwithstanding considerable strain on the wire.

To the shoe a is pivoted or hinged a lever, a, curved as shown at its lower end, so as to render it easy to pass through the ring 0 of the post and to give it a better purchase to strain the wire. The outer end of this lever terminates in an upturned bend, a to hook under the strand-wire to hold it down and form a coupling to hold that end of the wire attached to the post. The opposite end of the wire is held by a similar shoe, 0, having a ring, 0, and staple S, driven into the post D, as shown. WVhen it is desired to remove the wire to form a passageway, the lever a is turned up, as shown, when it may be withdrawn from the ring 0 and the wire w may be turned back out of the way in the same manner as the two lower wires. Looking at the second wire from the top, the lever a is shown as hooked under the wire to hold it down in the same manner as the upper one hereinbefore described; but instead of simply having the upturned end aflit is supplied with a pair of ears, a, which stride the wire from below, and a nail or pin, P is driven through holes in their sides to lock the wire in, that mischievous persons or the slackness of the wire may not unhook it and let the strandwire loose from the post. The shoe a is also represented as having a cam, (4*, instead of a nail or pin to hold the wire. The opposite end of the said wire is simply hooked into an ordinary staple driven into the post to hold that end. That end of the wire need not be cut and again attached to the post, but may be whole, as shown in the two lower wires,- and the coupling described may attach their cut-off ends to the screw-eye c and staple s of.

post D in the same manner as in the case of the two upper wires.

The couplings or shoes a and 0 shown in the upper wire may be used anywhere along in the strand by simply cutting it in two and applying the said two shoesone to each cutoff endthus coupling the wire at any place between the posts, and forming means of opening passage-ways between two posts through any kind of a wire fence. In such case the shoe 0 would be reversed, so that the lever a could pass through the ring 0 in the same manner as it is represented as passing through ring 0.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows, to wit:

1. The combination, with the fence-wire w, of the shoe a, provided with the ears a, nail 1?, and lever a, having the upturned outer end, a, and of the ring 0 asand for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the wire 10, shoes a and 0, provided with suitable means for se curing said wire therein, lever a, hinged in 4. The combination of the shoe 0, having shoe a, and the fence-posts D and D, prothe ring a, and ears z, and pin P, shoe a, havvided With suitable means for attachment of ing the ears z and pin P, curved lever a, said shoes thereto, as and for the purpose set I hinged to said shoe 0/, and fence-Wire w, as 15 5 forth. a and for the purpose set forth 3. In a coupling for forming passage-Ways through wire fences, the combination ofvthe WILLIAM M. GLOW.

shoe a, having the ears 2, and means for securing the strand-Wire w in said shoe, and the \Vitnesses: IO curved levera,hi11gedtosaidshoe,and adapted JOHN B. GLOW to operate as and for the purpose set forth. EDWARD SOI-ILAOI-ITER. 

